OK. I've been wanting to make my own mugs for a while now and I finally enrolled in a part-time ceramics course to give me the kick up the bum I need. It's 2hrs once a week for 9 weeks so progress is going to be slow unless I start doing some work at home, which hopefully I will.

The teacher does slip casting herself so it looks like i'll be in good hands. Had my first night tonight and this where i'm up to so far.No name for him yet, I think i'll just call him #1.

Next week i'll be changing the eyes a bit as i'm not happy with them, they dont look the same as in my sketch. Then i'll do the mouth and fix the goatee and then shape and smooth it ready to dry out so I can make the mold.

Well it's about f**kin' time! Every day GROG say to GROGself, "Why the hell hasn't Swizzle started making mugs?" Good start. Be careful of undercuts when making molds. It's hard to tell in the photo, but looks like you might have some undercuts under the nose. Good luck and good start.

She seemed fine with it Dave. Being a short course for adults I dont think it's an issue with her. She was quite intrigued with my fascination with Tiki. And I think she respected me because I told her I knew the process involved and could do it on my own, I was just wanting someone to guide me through all the pitfalls I might come across.

P.S. Thanks to all above for your compliments. Thanks GROG also for the advice about undercuts. I am aware of that and will make sure I dont have any when I clean it up.

Here's the progress on my mug after my second class. Fixed the eyes, did the mouth and added teeth and fine tuned the nose. He's not as smooth as i'd like but i'm happy enough with him to start the mold next week. Any mug makers out there who can give me a tip on how to get a smooth finish on the tighter areas where I cant get my fingers in? I was using a soft paint brush dipped in water which worked OK but it's still not perfect. Or is it just a matter of using wooden tools and a steady hand?

I wish I knew. I do a lot of sanding and carving on the cast once is it dried. On eBay they sell sets of dental tools that work well for detail. I hope someone has more advise I could use it too. Hugs, Wendy
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Started on my mold this week. I was hoping to do it last week but after looking at the master I ended up modifying it a bit as i'm only doing a three piece mold (with the spare) and it looked liked I might have some problems with it separating around the mouth so he's ended up more round than when I started.

My teachers method of doing the first pour of plaster is different to the posts i've seen by Wendy Cevola and other mug makers on this forum. Being shown this way does actually seem a little easier to me than what i've seen on this site. I'll be interested to see what others think of the method i'm/we are doing. I also like the way she has made the box. Each piece of wood has an L shaped bracket screwed to it which allows the other pieces to slot up nicely next to the other (you can just see it in the third photo). I plan on making one of my own this way which will be closer in size to a standard mug. The one we are using is quite large. She also recommended I get some bicycle tubes to hold the mold together when it comes to pouring.

Here he is inside the box. Instead of packing the base with clay and around the master it is just propped up on two blocks of clay and the plaster is poured in around him up to the separation line. The idea is to remove those clay blocks after all the pieces have been poured and then do another pour to fill the holes. (I took a photo but my camera was going flat so it didn't work, i'll try to remember to take one again next week).

Now as mentioned above instead of packing the base with clay to stop the plaster leaking out, we filled up the cracks on the outside of the box with clay to stop it from doing that. You can see how in these two photos. She also didn't measure the plaster as we were mixing, but instead went by feel (although she did say it's about 2/1 plaster/water). It was actually very thick when we poured it so that therefore made it more difficult for it to leak out of any gaps and also, as she said, makes the mold more dense and stronger.

Here it is after pouring the plaster in and then with the box removed and the guide markers added. The excess plaster on the master will be removed before the second half of the mold is poured, I didnt have time to do that tonight as the class was finishing up.

Hi Swizzle, this is very different. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the steps. How much plaster is under the backside of the tiki master? Will at denser plaster still pull the same amount of water out of the slip? Wendy